Friday

Sep 27, 2019 at 12:01 AMSep 30, 2019 at 9:19 AM

Standing before the State Board of Education, one of a vanload of local citizens who traveled to Jacksonsville to object to the demotion of the principal of a struggling school in east Gainesville painted this picture: “If I see you coming off the stage and I trip you, should I kick you out of here for hitting the floor?”

Kali Blount aptly framed the concerns of many Gainesville taxpayers about state law and policies that led to Karla Hutchinson being removed earlier this month as principal of Lake Forest Elementary School and demoted to a position as a preschool administrator.

Hutchinson’s predicament underscores the need for a tune up, at the least, of a public education system that relies too heavily on high-stakes testing. After all, it’s been nearly two decades since the move toward widespread standardized testing despite evidence that up to two-thirds of all educational outcomes are related to out-of-school factors.

Too few seemed to care about the impact of tests on students of color in particular. Rather, testing boomed, and actually helped catapult former Texas Gov. George W. Bush into the White House after the so-called ”Texas Miracle” received widespread media attention. Turned out, however, that requiring all Texas schools to take the same test and directing more resources to failing schools was more about hype than substance.

Granted, there have been improvements since the Texas Miracle was debunked, but there are still clearly problems with high-stakes testing.

Casualties like Hutchinson stand out. Then there are teachers who in growing numbers are stressed and leaving classrooms. Meanwhile the academic achievement gap between black and white students, which was supposed to narrow considerably, remains significant.

Sadly, Hutchinson, who just a few years ago was a local hero of the testing movement, has become its victim. After turning around then failing Williams Elementary School by improving its state grade from an D to a B, Hutchinson asked to be transferred to Lake Forest, which had received five straight F grades.

Hutchinson’s request was granted and in her first year at Lake Forest, with the help of additional resources offered failing schools, Hutchinson led Lake Forest to a C. But the ensuing two years saw the school drop to a D, which under state law requires removal of the principal.

Alachua County Schools Superintendent Karen Clarke shared with me communications from state education officials that cited the state law. I also reviewed an email from the state that notified Clarke that her appeal on Hutchinson behalf was denied.

While the law is the law, that doesn’t make it right. Here’s a case of an administrator with a proven track record of successfully turning around a failing school being victimized by factors beyond her control.

State Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran told the Gainesville protesters he was “troubled” by their concerns and would “look into” them. A good place to start is to find out whether sufficient financial and staffing resources remained in place at Lake Forest.

There are also disturbing complaints that funding was inconsistent and staffing depended too heavily on substitutes.

Finally, more must be done to address so-called out-of-school factors that confront students from low- income families. Gainesville for All is helping to do just that in its Gainesville Empowerment Zone at Metcalfe and Rawlings elementary schools.

What’s it going to take for the state to realize it needs to do a better job of addressing the challenges that confront too many black and poor students outside the classroom?

Rather than scapegoat, the state would do well to re-evaluate.

James F. Lawrence is director of Gainesville for All.

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